<p>My son has everything going for him -a very well paying job ,a 4.0 in Engineering ,50% merit aid.Yesterday he tells me he is taking a handgun course so he can have a gun permit ! He will be able to carry a concealed weapon !! WHY ? He doesn’t plan to own a gun at this point .He turned 21 recently and thinks it would be cool ! For those of you that remember me ,my oldest son spent 9 months in a detention center in China for trying to transport drugs .(He is back now .) As my kids turn into adults ,I realize I have no control anymore .I adore this son,he calls me all the time and is a great son . AT least he is doing this legally .It just makes me nervous .Anybody has similar issues with a child ?</p>
<p>My son has been talking about it for a while now but hasn’t actually taken the class or taken the needed steps. He lives in a very urban area and for a few years in college worked late as a bar bouncer/doorman so I guess he felt that justified it. He doesn’t live in the greatest neighborhood now but I don’t personally feel carrying a gun would make him safer. It definitely makes me nervous to even hear him considering it but he is a financially independent adult so I have no say in it. I give him my opinion if it is asked for.</p>
<p>The first thing I did when I turned twenty-one was go to the Probate Court and start the paperwork for a Georgia Firearms License. My license came two months later, and I’ve been carrying concealed ever since.</p>
<p>I don’t carry because I think it’s “cool”; I carry to protect myself, but I don’t go looking for trouble. If I have a choice between a longer, well-lit path and a shortcut through a dark alleyway, I’ll take the longer but better-lit route every time. Moreover, I usually don’t leave my apartment after I return from school at night. But in my opinion, it’s better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it.</p>
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<p>He is probably well trained in gun safety then.</p>
<p>Not meaning to sound sexist (I am female), but many women seem to have an extreme, sometimes irrational aversion to guns. It is understandable, since they kill people.</p>
<p>All three of my kids have taken gun safety courses, and know how to handle guns. One of them owns a shotgun. I am fine with it.</p>
<p>His reasoning might concern me a little (i.e., the “thinks it would be cool” bit). My FIL teaches the Texas concealed handgun license class. From what little I know of it, that might be the best thing for him to do right now. I think he’ll come to realize it’s not so much “cool” as it is a heavy-duty responsibility. It may well be that a 21-year-old carrying a 4.0 in engineering is ready for that sort of responsibility. I think he’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I’m guessing you’re not from Texas. 
No big deal here.</p>
<p>Guns. Ick.</p>
<p>I don’t think he’ll be allowed to carry the gun on campus. I suppose that may vary depending on college - check the rules.</p>
<p>Personally I’m uncomfortable with the idea of guns in the house, especially if there are children there someday. (I know, I know… plenty of folks out there think it’s fine). To me the risk of accidents trumps the possible benefits.</p>
<p>fauxmaven - It sounds like your adult son is going about this in a responsible manner. I’ll leave the opinion side of this post there.</p>
<p>There are practical issues that may warrant obtaining a pistol permit. In my state you can’t even own a pistol without having a permit. My FIL left me his target pistol. It’s sitting in Illinois until my pistol permit goes through. Five months and still waiting. (sigh) I thought my pistol, rifle, and automatics experience in the military might ease the process … but no.</p>
<p>I don’t like the situation either, but there is nothing you can do about it. My friend had the same problem with her son. He also started to collect guns and she is about as anti gun as they come. It was a very difficult situation. He wanted to store his stuff, including guns at her house. He wanted to come to her house armed with a gun. Both things she did not want.</p>
<p>Just be very careful if you are visiting him, have to stay overnight, and have to make a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. :eek:</p>
<p>“I don’t like the situation either, but there is nothing you can do about it.”</p>
<p>Sure there is. Just say no! I live in an area where there is a lot of gun ownership and hunting, but we don’t partake. My boys have never had a gun interaction at their colleges,
and when I ask them, they think it is bizarre that I would mention it.</p>
<p>@fabrizio:
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<p>This piques my curiosity. I’m a not very big, not very strong female who has lived in NYC and now lives in a small city. Yet I can’t imagine what situation I could be in where I would need a gun to protect myself. I suppose there’s some minuscule chance that I could be assaulted in a mall parking lot, but there’s a similar chance that I could be hit by lightning, and I don’t wear a lightning rod on my head. So I’m truly curious about what sort of lifestyle would generate the need to protect oneself by carrying a concealed weapon. Truly, the thought that the guy standing next to me in line at Target or stopped next to me in traffic might be carrying a loaded gun gives me the willies. (And no, I don’t live in Texas!)</p>
<p>He’s most likely getting a gun permit so he can carry a handgun…(;</p>
<p>Yes I know he is getting the permit to carry a concealed weapon in case he ever decides this .Just say no -not an option when he is 21 .I guess kids make choices sometimes that we as parents don’t understand ,but I can’t really prevent this ,other than stating how I feel about it . He is very responsible and a hard worker .</p>
<p>mommaj–don’t know what state you live in, but my midwestern state has a handgun permit for 1 of every 8 people. Assuming far fewer women than men get permits, that is a lot of people carrying. Ouf course, not everyone with a permit carries, or carries all the time.</p>
<p>We live in a rural area. The nearest “city” is 10 miles and has 5,000 people. S2 is a criminal justice major and has been a jailer there for the past year. You would get the willies if you spent a few hours talking to him and knowing the level of drugs and crime ever present in even the smallest town. I can easily envision being in a circumstance where one felt safer with a gun, assuming that person is well trained to use it.</p>
<p>S1 and S2 both have lifetime handgun permits. I don’t love it, but I have grown accustomed and accepting. They are both pursuing law enforcement careers.</p>
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<p>As you quoted, I don’t go looking for trouble. My lifestyle is not in the least bit “risky.” During my time at Georgia Tech, I was never robbed at gun or knifepoint. I checked my Gmail just now with the keyword “Clery” and found four Clery Act notices I hadn’t deleted that occurred after I graduated. In the span of two months (5/18-7/18), there were three muggings, all of which were off-campus and took place after 9:30 PM. (The fourth notice came from a student who reported an intruder in her sorority apartment.)</p>
<p>But from the notices, it didn’t seem like any of those students were looking for trouble. A student parked his car, forgot something, and went back, only to meet three robbers who demanded his belongings. Five males were walking back to their off-campus house and were mugged at gunpoint by two robbers who even handcuffed the group. Two females were walking to their car when a thief pushed one and stole the other’s purse.</p>
<p>As I said, I don’t think any of them did anything “wrong,” especially the five males that heeded the advice of walking in groups. But while that never happened to me, there’s no reason why it couldn’t have happened to me. For me to think otherwise would mean falling prey to the illusion of unique invulnerability.</p>
<p>Moreover, as an American of Asian (Chinese) descent, I am not ignorant of Asians who have been beaten or worse, killed, by people who for whatever reason don’t like us. Vincent Chin was beaten to death by two autoworkers who thought he was Japanese. More recently, in my home state, an American of Vietnamese decent was badly beaten while celebrating his birthday with his girlfriend.</p>
<p>[Davis</a> Do](<a href=“FOX 5 Atlanta”>FOX 5 Atlanta)</p>
<p>So I carry a concealed firearm. I have never used it, and I hope I never have to. I don’t go looking for trouble, but if trouble finds me, I’d rather have a firearm in my possession than be at someone else’s mercy.</p>
<p>Funny, we were just talking about this. I just sold our weapons to a gunshop last weekend. </p>
<p>My kids reminded me that one of their friends wasn’t allowed to come over to our house for a few months when the parents learned we had a large gun cabinet. Eventually the parents got comfortable with our safety arrangements. Not only was the gun safe locked, but it was behind two other locks and all of the pieces had trigger locks. (My spouse made sure that all of our kids learned gun safety and how to shoot at ranges - including daughter.) My kids think it’s ironic that the kid whose parents were so concerned about gun safety went into ROTC, and is reporting for duty in a month. </p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about guns. One of my parents grew up in the country, where guns were tools not weapons. Guns were used for hunting food and for eliminating groundhogs and similar pests that would make holes that could break a cow’s or horse’s leg. Another parent grew up in a city, and felt there was no good reason for a family to own a gun. I grew up hearing their debates. If I lived in a rural area, I’d probably have kept our guns.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I decided I wasn’t going to use the hunting guns or the pistols, and that I didn’t anticipate that my kids were ever going to be in a situation where they’d need to carry. I could think of more examples where gun ownership might cause problems such as theft, or having to defend a charge of excessive force, than of likely-to-occur examples where ownership would make a positive difference. If any of my kids decide to purchase a gun in the future, he/she will have to rationalize the need, spend the money and get licensed. They won’t be inheriting guns from me.</p>
<p>To OP…I’d suggest trying to talk your kid into using the money for a vacation, an IPad or some other fun purchase until the “guns are cool” thing blows over.</p>
<p>It’s tough when our kids become adults and it becomes clear that they do not view things the same way we do. My guys have not purchased guns, but they definitely have lifestyles that do not mesh with what I want.</p>
<p>I second VeryHappy. Guns. Double ick. It must be my northerner sensibilities – I think redneck or thug. Can’t possibly see any reason for my family to own any. You buy an alarm system to protect against home invasion, not a gun.</p>